The Bountiful's Captain
by EleanorLovett55
Summary: He couldn't tell whether it was another hallucination when he saw, through his bleary vision, a ship on the horizon. The Pirate AU you never knew you wanted, but finally have.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ta Da! The plot bunnies have attacked and gifted you with this! I hope you like it! Leave Ele a review and you shall be rewarded with the knowledge of why all the rum had gone!**

**Happy reading!**

**Ele**

He was cold.

And wet.

And goddamned thirsty.

Who's brilliant idea was this again? His mind questioned.

His cheek collapsed against the wet wood of his raft and he lay there, thinking he would probably perish out there in the middle of the ocean, no one even giving a damn about him.

He couldn't tell whether it was another hallucination when he saw, through his bleary vision, a ship on the horizon. It could have taken five minutes, or an hour, or days, when he heard the sound of it approaching, and then a splash, before someone was hauling him off of his makeshift raft and he was hoisted into the air for a few minutes. He felt the deck, cool beneath his skin, and voices all around him, before his mind went blissfully blank, and everything faded.

When he woke up, it was to the face of a young lad with stringy, dirty blonde hair hanging in his face as he read a book. The ship rocked gently around and under them, but he barely took notice. The lad seemed to notice that he was awake, for he dropped his book hurriedly and grabbed at a tankard of water and carefully helped him to sip.

"Who are you?" he rasped as he looked at the boy in confusion.

"Anthony Hope, sir. I rescued you from the water," he replied, urging Sweeney to take another gulp of the water.

"Sweeney Todd," he said grudgingly, and the boy- Anthony, nodded.

"The Captain of the ship would like to see you as soon as you are well enough, sir," Anthony told him.

"I am well enough now, I only ask for a change of clothes," Sweeney said.

Anthony nodded, not bothering to say anything about how Mr. Todd should probably wait a day or two before getting back up. He merely handed him some clothes and left, giving him the needed privacy to change.

Fifteen minutes later found Anthony leading Sweeney to the Captain's cabin. He found himself standing in dimly lit quarters, a lone lantern on a desk. The person sitting was mostly shrouded in shadow, but he could just make out the outline of a pair of feet propped up on the desk, and the orange circle of a cigarette.

"Captain? I've brought Mr. Todd to see you, as you asked," Anthony spoke up.

A hand waved itself, effectively dismissing Anthony.

He left, the door shutting with a solid click. He turned to face the so called Captain, not knowing what to expect.

The wick of the lantern was turned up, lightening the room enough so that he could see the darkened form of the Captain.

He was surprised to see a woman sitting there, watching him calculatingly as she took a drag on her

cigarette. He was able not to show surprise on his face, though, Sweeney Todd was an emotionless demon, he had no need for such trivial things.

Instead, he focused on the face of the woman.

She was pale, a rarity for a person living on a boat and constantly in the sun, and her red curls tumbled down her back and over her shoulders, the colour of blood in the dim light. Her eyes were dark, but he drew upon some memory he had, of eyes the most delightful shade of brown, that a person could absolutely lose themselves in. He shook his head, watching as she merely watched him, the smoke curling on wisps on the air as she blew it out of her mouth. Finally she sat up, outing her cigarette on the desk, and stood. She still remained silent, and he focused his attentions to what she wore instead.

A white peasant style shirt, and a tight black leather corset over it, accompanied by a fitted pair of trousers, hugging her shapely legs snugly. He arched a brow at her bold fashion statement; after all, in civilized society, she would have been frowned upon and possibly hung.

He found her impossibly beautiful.

"Well, since you're so intent on remaining as silent as the grave, I suppose we'll just jump right into it," she started, sliding another cigarette from somewhere on her person, striking a match and lighting it.

He kept his dark eyes on her, silently following her as she idly paced the room.

"My men think you'd be a good addition to the ship. They think there's something rather odd and foreboding about you, something that would scare off the other pirate ships when they try to raid us," she said.

He watched her with fascination, she moved with such grace, and her accent didn't sound like a lower class accent, how peculiar.

"I personally couldn't give two shits about you, whether you live or die or just jump right back into the ocean," she continued.

There was something familiar in the blunt way she spoke, the way she walked and carried herself. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it…

"But, you've got a choice. Stay on the boat, earn your keep; or you get off when we stop off in the Caribbean. Well, either way, you still have to work till you get off. Or I could just order your death."

And then he finally figured it out.

She was behind him, her ringed fingers toying with the globe she had set up in the corner.

"Eleanor Pearce," he muttered.

Before he even knew what happened, his knees connected with the wooden floors sharply, and one of her hands tangled in his hair, roughly jerking it backwards.

He thought he could struggle out of her grip, after all, she was a tiny woman, and he, a grown man who had labored in a fucking penal colony for the last 15 years.

At least, that was until he felt the fine edge of a knife pressed against his neck.

"Where did you hear that name?" she hissed, jerking at his head painfully again.

He hissed in pain.

"E-Eleanor Pearce, she was a girl I knew from my childhood. It's you, isn't it?" he asked.

"I don't know you. I've never known you," she said icily, the blade of her knife digging in so that a trickle of blood ran down his neck, staining his collar.

"You do. It's Benjamin. Benjamin Barker."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Huge thanks to TheDarkMistressBellatrix, Redejeka, WhatIsUnImAgInEd and Guest for reviewing. I'm glad you guys like i so far, and I hope I don't fuck it up. :)**

**Happy Reading!**

**Ele**

And it was him.

He could remember her now, a little slip of a thing, a girl who preferred to climb trees and run races than sit inside and play with dolls. There was a time when his mother would have thought that they would marry, but then Nellie moved away when she was fifteen, and he never heard from her again.

Until now.

Her hand shook slightly, and she dropped the knife.

He took that as an opportunity to stand and face her, and instead of a hardened pirate captain, he saw straight through to the Nellie Pearce he once knew. She stared up at him in bewilderment, her mouth opening and closing, but no words escaping.

"How- What happened to you?" he asked quietly, measuring her facial expressions.

At his question, her back straightened and her mouth thinned to a tight line.

Oh, she was back to being Captain, then.

"That, I'm afraid, is none of your business," she said tightly, pushing past him to get at the bottle of rum on her desk.

He grabbed her elbow and spun her to face him, only to have her slap him roughly.

"There is one rule that all of my crew know, Mr. Barker, and that rule is: you_ do not_ touch me if you wish to keep your hand," she said lowly.

He brushed her comment off.

"It is my business! You don't exactly go from being the wealthy Lady Pearce to a rugged pirate captain," he told her harshly.

"I was never the Lady Pearce! I was fifteen, for god's sakes! And what happened to me after that period when I moved away does not and will never concern you!" she spat.

"You might as well have been. You were to become the Lady Pearce; I just want to know what happened to you, Eleanor," he said, the tail end of his words coming out calmer.

"Nobody calls me Eleanor. And if you're to stay on this ship, I can't have you blowing my past to my crew, so you better shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you," she sighed, " I don't wish to speak of this anymore, . Kindly leave."

"No. Not Barker. It's Todd now, Sweeney Todd." he said darkly.

"My apologies, Mr. _Todd_," she said mockingly, "Now do us a both a favour and get out."

He huffed at her as she re-settled herself at her desk, taking a swig of rum straight from the bottle. He stormed away from her cabin and back down to the bunk he shared with Anthony.

He found the lad curled up in his hammock, reading a book of poetry. He looked up as Sweeney entered, and sat up straighter.

"How was your talk with the Captain, Mr. Todd?" he asked.

"Hmm? Fine, just fine, Anthony. Tell me one thing though, how came it to be, that a woman is the Captain of a Pirate ship?" Sweeney asked as he sat on a stool opposite from the boy.

"Oh. Well, you see, I'm still fairly new on this ship, so I didn't know much. But from what the other fellas say, the Captain killed the last Captain of the ship."

Sweeney's brow furrowed.

"What? A little woman like that, kill a man of twice her strength?" Sweeney asked in disbelief.

Anthony nodded.

"See, the ship she was traveling on to America with her father was ambushed by the crew and the Captain. They killed her father and the rest of the crew in front of her and took her hostage. From what I understood, the last captain, Albert, tried to bed her, and killed him by smashing a bottle over his head," Anthony told him.

Sweeney grunted, his mind whirling at a thousand thoughts a minute.

"After that, she rolled Albert's body onto the deck, and declared herself the new captain of the ship. Everyone who tried to contest her was killed or kicked off in the nearest port. The crew hasn't judged her since. She makes their lives good."

Sweeney nodded, still thinking.

So this was what happened to the sweet Nellie Pearce he once knew? Well, no wonder she was as hardened and rugged as she seemed. The poor woman had seen her father get killed in front of her, for god's sake!

_Are you going soft, Todd? _

**No, I just pity her. I knew her once, and I pity her plight.**

_Of course you do. Just be careful Todd, be very careful._

**I don't need you to tell me when to be careful!**

The voice was silent as Sweeney climbed into his hammock, facing the wall as he tried to get some sleep.

XxX

Nellie took a long, deep drag on her cigarette, staring out at the moon as it cleared some clouds and shone brightly over the waves.

Benjamin Barker, Ben Barker, who she thought she would never get to see again, was here on her ship. She frowned slightly at the thought.

He had better heed her warning and keep his mouth shut. She couldn't have him spilling all of her past to the crew of how she used to be such a prim and proper little girl.

She snorted at the thought.

_How is it that kind Ben Barker ended up floating on a raft off the coast of Devil's Island?_

**It couldn't possibly be that he gotten himself arrested, could it?**

_No, surely __**not. **_

**But it would have explained why he changed so much, and why I didn't really recognize him…**

Feeling a migraine coming on, Nellie flicked her cigarette into the ocean and sighed, taking a good swig of rum from the bottle she held loosely in her hand.

Just as she was about to retire, though, she spotted the dark shape of a ship approaching on the horizon.

Connolly, who was up in the nest, shouted an alarm and several members of the crew rushed up on deck, running about and hoisting sails.

Nellie helped them, and once or twice she saw Benja-Mr. Todd, helping Anthony.

She stepped up to the wheel and pulled her spyglass from her pocket, focusing on the approaching ship. Her gaze was drawn to its flag.

_Ah, bugger._


	3. Chapter 3

_XxX_

"Cap? Shou'd we ready the cannons?" A crewmember whom Nellie knew and trusted very much, called out, as the rest stood anxiously awaiting orders on the deck, looking up at the helm where their captain stood, her arms crossed and her feet spread.

She sighed through her nose.

"No, Dawson. That is a ship I unfortunately happen to know," she replied, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

Dawson shrugged, and the men returned below the deck, back to nursing their flagons of rum and gin for the night.

The only ones whom doggedly remained, despite the captain's lenience towards the certain ship currently rolling towards them, was the weathered pirate Connolly up in the nest, Dawson, and that goddamn Benja-Todd, yes, _Todd_.

Within fifteen minutes, the ship appeared alongside them, dangerously close, and it dropped its anchor just as they had. The other sailors on the ship were going about doing their normal duties, uninterested in the plank that befell over the edge, joining their two ships, as if it were something they witnessed regularly. And, in the odd silence, a familiar head of long locks swaggered onboard.

"I'm afraid all m' rum is gone, so I've come to borrow some of yours."

Nellie squared her shoulders and tipped her chin up as the other pirate dropped onto her deck.

"Jack."

"_Captain_ Jack," He bellowed as he looked up and beamed at her, his dark eyes shining from the lanterns they had on the deck. He took off his hat and swept down in a low bow, adding mockingly, "Well if it isn't my dear Capt'n Nellie. How have _you_ been m'love?"

She laughed mirthlessly, though her smile was genuine, and she swatted at his head.

"Enough o' tha', you; how did ya bloody find us then? Been followin' me?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"I'll always be able to find you, my darling." he said in a simpering voice, his hat still held to his chest as he jested with her. Nellie's eyebrows quirked in questioning, and she became noticeably suspicious of his intentions.

Sweeney Todd, for some unknown reason, could feel green-eyed jealousy rear its head within his thumping breast. _Jealous_? He told himself it was irrational to be envious, and not to mention absurdly stupid. Nellie could have relations with whomever she so desired, it should be no pain to him. Besides, there was an entire almost seventeen year span between them; they had both changed too much – separately.

"Alrigh' Jack. What is it you want then?" she asked seriously, rolling her eyes at him.

"Why must you always assume that I want something from you? What if I had just come for your lovely company?" he retorted as he straightened and put his hat back on his head.

Her gaze hardened as she regarded his eye make-up, and when she spoke her voice was suddenly steely.

"'cause you only ever look for us when you want something from me. That, and you've been laying the compliments on extra thick ever since your boot met my deck."

Jack chuckled and swung an arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, come on, Nellie, you know I do enjoy your...company." he murmured into her ear.

Sweeney Todd felt a constricting pain around his upper abdomen as the two pirates conversed with on-and-off sensuality that showed how deeply familiar they were to one another. He wanted to rip this - Jack person's head off, or at least his touchy arm. They were asinine and outrageous feelings, even for him, but the urge was permanently there. So instead of acting on welling impulse, he focused making silent fun of the pirate man's appearance.

The nobody whom was currently speaking to Nellie confused him, well, more like made him sick to his stomach. His once white cotton shirt was stained and grubby, and- dear god.

His hair.

What on earth had he done to it?

Initially it appeared to be braided in a weird manner, so that each braid was cylindrical in shape. But upon closer inspection, Sweeney realized that it didn't seem to be braids at all. Rather, it seemed that each lock was matted beyond repair.

His eyes were lined with what looked like the kohl that the women of London smudged around their eyes for the benefit of his seemingly raging promiscuity, and he wore a red bandana that covered most of his forehead.

He and Nellie were now speaking in hushed tones, until finally, she stepped disdainfully away from him.

"Uh-uh. No way in hell, Jack, am I lettin' you do this to me - again. You always pull me into these kinds of situations, and then you haul ass and jeopardize the safety of my crew," she told him heatedly.

"Mmm, _captain_, love. But come on, Nellie. I will admit, that I often tend to desert you, but I promise this time's different."

"No, you always say that, and then you still leave me to clean up your messes, Jack."

"But it won't happen again, I promise, love," he said pleadingly.

"Don't you _'love' _me, Jack Sparrow-"

"_Captain_, why do you always forget the captain?!"

"I am sick and tired of being forced to act as if I'm your mother. I won't bloody do it this time, no matter how much you plead." she caviled firmly.

Sweeney watched with a strange, ill-natured sense of satisfaction as the conversation went from their light banter to a verbal fight.

"Well, since you refuse to help me, will you at least go to the Caribbean with me?" he asked of her, his voice a bit colder now that she had refused him so readily.

"I was already sailing to the Caribbean, Jack. But you already knew that, I presume?" she said languidly, but with a certain venom in her voice.

Jack looked at her guiltily.

She nodded her head, as though confirming her thoughts for herself.

"Get back on your ship, Jack. We leave at first light." She left before he could correct her on his name, and threw snipingly over her shoulder. "Dawson and Todd- just go back to your quarters," Dismissing them both and walking away quickly, the dark tones of her clothes blended with the shadows on the ship.

"She needs more rum," Jack commented, watching her stalk away to hide.

He looked at Sweeney, who shot him a scowl before returning down into the hold with Dawson.

"Everybody around here needs more rum," he muttered to himself, before returning to his ship.

High up in the nest, Connolly shook his head.

XxX

"Anthony?" Sweeney asked as he returned to their cabin.

"Yes, sir?"

"Who was that man who appeared?"

"Um, which man?"

"Th' - the man, with the hair and - and the make-up -"

"_Oh_, that was Captain Jack Sparrow, of the Black Pearl," the boy replied, then continued to thumb through a book he had across his lap.

"And how does he know the Captain?" he asked, pretending to be confused.

Anthony pursed his lips in thought, his eyes flicking from the words on the white pages to Sweeney. "No one really knows, sir. Some of the crew speculate that he's just a friend of hers that she met while sailing, I think Dawson suspects that he's secretly her brother, but most of 'em have labeled the two as lovers."

Sweeney gritted his teeth in unexplainable annoyance.

he asked the young lad. "What abou' you? What do you think?"

"Oh…Oh, I prefer not to get involved in the Captain's business." he said diplomatically.

Sweeney nodded his head in acceptance. He concluded the lad was smart for not acquainting himself too much with Nellie and her history.

"Sir? If I may ask, why do you want to know all these things about the Captain?" Anthony asked, ignoring his book for once and staring quizzically at Sweeney.

"Just…curious, I suppose," Sweeney muttered, before resting into his hammock and trying to fall asleep.


End file.
